Coal-compacting power-hammer rod activator

ABSTRACT

In the coking of coking coal according to the compression process the coking coal is compressed by power hammers before its introduction into the coke oven, whereby these hammers having elongated hammer rods are lifted by means of driven cam disks acting upon them by sections, and then released to drop. The cam shafts bearing the cam disks, corresponding to the number of power-hammer rods, are individually pivoted. Their bearing points on both sides of the hammer rods are movable synchronously and in the same direction and are uniformly actuated by a hydraulic system. Thereby, the individual cam shafts can be driven and pressed against the individual power-hammer rods, according to given data. An even and uniform lifting of all rods and power hammers is achieved by that.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Phase application under the PatentCooperation Treaty of PCT/DE 82/00136 July 1, 1982 and is based underthe International Convention and 35 USC 119 upon the German Nationalapplication P3125 840.9 filed July 1, 1981.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a rod actuator for power hammers which are usedin compressed-coal coking plants for the compressing of the coking coalbefore its introduction into the coke oven, actuator having cam-diskshafts running on both sides of the power-hammer rods, the shafts beingcentrally driven and the cam disks mounted thereon influencing thepower-hammer rods in sections.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In order to obtain an adequate quality of the coke coking coal can becompacted in specially provided molds by means of power hammers movingup and down. In the compressing devices of German open application 29 14918 the individual hammers are lifted by cam disks mounted on athroughgoing shaft and actuated by a driving motor. By rotation of bothcam disks, these are caused to press in a cam-like protruding area oftheir circumferences against the web, provided with a friction lining,of the corresponding hammer and lift the hammer due to the effect of thefriction force. Upon further rotation the disk cams return to therecessed area of their circumferences and release the power hammer sothat it falls and compresses the coking coal.

The cam disks of each side of the power-hammer device have a commonshaft per hammer carriage, driven by a gear. On their part, the gears ofboth shafts are driven by an electromotor through an intermediate gearand a drive unit. The bearings of the shafts are bolted in the framestructure and lined underneath with a stack of shim plates. In order toadjust the cam-disk shafts, the bearings must be dismounted from theframe structure and the shaft can be lifted together with the cam disksand bearings with the purpose of compensating the thickness of theshimming with respect to the degree of wear of the friction lining andto insure the required friction force for lifting the hammer.

The adjustment of the cam-disk shafts is requires to a large expense ineffort and time, although it is sufficient, as a rule, to adjust onlyone of the two shafts. An adequate device, for instance a hoist, isrequired to lift the cam-disk shaft.

In addition, for each adjustment of the shaft the intermeshing betweenthe cam-disk shaft-pinion and the intermediate gear has to bereadjusted. If this operation is not performed scrupulously, damage ofthe gears through stressing and increased wear is unavoidable. Thedifficulties are increased by the fact that the required correction ofthe thickness of the shim package can not be predetermined or foreseen.As a result, in certain cases the adjustment must be repeated, forinstance when too many or too thick plates were removed and the bearingsare then subjected to unacceptable stress and heat following anincreased contact pressure.

In order to keep down-time as low as possible in practice, the cam-disksshaft is adjusted as a rule only then when one or more power-hammer rodsare no longer lifted.

In the intermediate stage a slip occurs between the web of the hammerrod and the cam of the disks, due to reduced friction. As a result ofthe diminished lifting of the power hammer the compression of the cokingcoal and of the coal cakes to be introduced into the oven for coking arereduced.

In case the operator notices too late, or not at all, that the rods ofthe hammer have failed to go up, considerable damage can be produced. Inthis case the unlifted hammers rods remain in the coal cake and arerammed while the carriages are moved forwards by means of a hydrauliccylinder. This can lead to the bending of the power-hammer rods stuck inthe solidified coal cake. As a rule, in this case the replacement of thepower-hammer rods is unavoidable.

Since the two traversing cam-disks shaft are actuated by a common drive,the cam disks mounted on them can be aligned only together. As a result,each alignment is carried out based on the power-hammer rod whose weband lining thickness are in the worst condition. Only by proceeding inthis manner one can be sure that the power-hammer rods are indeed beinglifted, since the initial stressing force was based on the mostunfavorable situation. However it is also disadvantageous that theremaining cam disks are pressed against the lining with a contactpressure higher than the one needed. The result is a comparativelyhigher wear of the friction lining.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to create a device with uniform pressureof the cam disks which works by automatically taking into considerationthe variable thicknesses of the web and of the friction lining.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object is attained according to the invention by having a number ofcam-disks shafts corresponding to the number of the power-hammer rodsand individually journaled, whereby their bearing points on both sidesof the hammer rods are movable synchronously and in the same directionand can be actuated evenly by a hydraulic system.

Such a construction makes possible a single adjustment of the cam disksand indeed evenly from both sides by aid of servo control. Bysubdivision of the cam-disk shaft, or shafts, into individual shortsections it is possible not only to drive them individually, but also tocause pressing against the friction lining, or webs of the individualhammer rods corresponding to the particular data.

A uniform pressing of the cam disks on both sides of the web is insuredby the fact that the bearing points are constructed as rocking armshaving intermeshing toothed segments. By influencing one of the bearingpoints the action is transmitted at the same time also to the otherrocking arm and thereby to the other cam disk, so that a uniform load ofthe web on each side results. The backlash in the meshing of the toothedrocking arms is eliminated according to the invention by two helicalsprings.

A favorable transmission of the driving forces and a favorableapplication of the friction forces on the webs of the individual hammerrods is insured according to the invention by the fact that the cam diskis mounted between two rocking arms on the shaft which at the same timecarries the cam-shaft pinion. This cam-shaft pinion, according to afurther development of the invention, can be coupled with a motor via adistributor wheel and a drive branching. This way it is possible todrive all the cam disks with a single motor, and thereby to lift anddrop the individual power-hammer rods uniformly and in a predeterminedrythm.

The cam disks are pressed uniformly against the hammer rods via thetoothed rocking-arms. In order to keep the necessary efforts related tomechanical, hydraulic and automatic control techniques within limits andat the same time to achieve an even and unidirectional adjustment of thecam disks, the rocking arms according to the invention are moved in thearea of the toothed segments, in pairs, each on a lever-shaft, one ofsaid lever-shafts being actuatable or rotatable via a hinged lever and athereto connected working cylinder. When the lever and by that thelever-shaft are shifted by the cylinder, this motion is transmittedautomatically via the toothed segments from one of the rocking arms tothe other and this way to both cam disks.

The working cylinder is capable of insuring the same position of thelever-shaft, or the toothed rocking arm and of the cam-disk, or camdisks even when under load, since the hydraulic working cylinder isprovided with a releasable relief valve. With the aid of this releasablehydraulic relief valve the oil shock absorber on the side of the pistonas well as of the rod can be kept leakproof. In order to balance theoperation a pressure tank is provided in the conduit leading to therelief valve. This pressure tank serves as a pressure buffer,maintaining a constant pressure upstream of each of the releasablehydraulic relief valves.

An automatic adjustment of the feeding pressure is advantageouslyobtained by providing a double-stage pressure switch in the control lineon the rod side, which is actuatable via time relay and/or a positioningcontact in conjunction with the cam disks. When with the aid of the timerelay or the positioning contact it is established that at the cam disksthe required initial pressure can not be reached in a given time, anadjustment over the double-stage pressure switch takes place and in thenext cycle the optimal initial pressure is insured. The double-stagepressure switch is stimulated via the time relay and the positioningcontact.

Shocks in the hydraulic system, which occur especially when the cams ofthe disks press against the hammer rods are avoided according to theinvention in an advantageous and simple way by providing a pressure tankin the control line. It is possible due to this pressure tank, which inaccordance to one of the embodiments is inserted advantageously in thecontrol line on the side of the piston, to replace the cam-disk rims, upto now elastically mounted on their hubs, by rigidly mounted cam disks.Such rigidly mounted cam disks are of simpler construction and cheaperand simpler to mount.

The adjustment of the meshing between the pinion of the cam-disks shaftand the intermediate gear is eliminated, since according to theinvention the distributor wheel is mounted rotatably on each of thelever-shafts. The distributor wheel, respectively both distributorwheels can always intermesh, independently from the selectedcounter-pressure and thereby from the position of the cam-shaft pinion.

The invention is characterized especially by the fact that theup-to-know cumbersome adjustment in the operation of several powerhammers of one compression mold is eliminated, because now it ispossible to select the counterpressure of the individual cam disks eachcorresponding to the condition of the individual power-hammer rods dueto the separate mounting of the cam disks and their individual drive.However the advantage of driving all cam disks via a single drive motoris not being given up. With the aid of the device according to theinvention, it is furthermore possible to actuate the individualpower-hammer rods uniformly from both sides of the web by the engagingcam disks. Thereby not only a uniform and trouble-free (sic) operationis ensured, but also at the same time a more uniform and always constantcompression of the coal cake over the entire length of the compressionmold results.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Further details and advantages of the device according to the inventionresult from the following description given with reference to thedrawing, in which a preferred embodiment with its details and individualparts is represented. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the power-hammer device according to theinvention,

FIG. 2 is a view in the direction of arrow A of FIG. 1 showing themounting of the cam disks;

FIG. 3 is a section along line I--I of FIG. 1 showing the displacementof the cam-shaft pinion;

FIG. 4 is a section along line II--II of FIG. 1 showing the position ofthe drive branching; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of the hydraulic control system.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION

The segment shown in FIG. 1 represents a partial view of a power-hammerdevice with several power hammers 1 functioning in parallel to oneanother. Each pair of hammer rods 2, 3 are drivewise correspondinglyconnected, whereby the cam disks 5,6 cooperating with hammer rods 2, 3serve to lift each of the hammer rods by friction and to let them dropagain after the cam disks complete their run.

The cam disks 5, 6 are mounted on short shafts 7, 9 on which thecam-shaft pinions 8 are also mounted. These cam-shaft pinions 8 areconnected to the distributor wheel 10, to the intermediate wheels 11, 12and the drive pinion 13. The driving pinion 13 positioned on theintermediate shaft 14 is actuated by the motor 16 and the gearing 15 andalso by the gear coupling 17 positioned therebetween.

The cam disks 5, 6 act upon each web 19, or friction lining 20 of theindividual hammer rods 2, 3 with the aid of their cams.

The cam shafts are individually pivoted, whereby their bearing members22 are shaped as intermeshing rocking arms 23, 24 having toothedsegments 26. These rocking arms 23, 24 are connected to each other inthe area of the toothed segments via a lever shaft 25 in namely in sucha manner as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, according to which the rockingarms 23, 24 are tilted by the actuation of the working cylinder 29 overthe lever 28 so that the cam disks 5, 6 either approach the web 19 orare displaced away therefrom.

The lever shafts 25 are maintained on both sides of the power-hammerrods 2, 3 via a common mounting support 27. Only one of the two levershafts has a lever 28. This is sufficient because the motion of thelever 28 is transmitted to the opposite lever shaft 25' over the toothedsegments 26. Correspondingly, the rocking arms 23, respectively 23', aswell as 24, respectively 24' follow similar motions. The backlash in therocking arms 23, 23' and 24, 24' is eliminated by helical springs 47.Thereby a deviation of the teeth during the periodical engagement of thedisk cams 41 is avoided. The base of the power hammer, whose dimensionscorrespond to the ones of the compression mold, is marked 30.

The working cylinder 29 moves the lever arm 25 via the lever 28. Therocking arms 23, 24 are then moved synchronously, as mentioned. Thecam-disk shaft 9 pivoted between the rocking arms 23, 24, respectively23', 24' serves at the same time as a carrier of the cam disks 5, 6 andshaft pinion 8. The cam disks 5, 6 are set in operational position viathe cam-disk shaft 9. The adjustment of the cam disks 5,6 is carried outby the hydraulic system. In FIG. 4 the drive of the cam-shaft pinion 8is shown, whereby the individual transmission gears are marked 10, 11,12, 13.

FIG. 5 shows the diagram of hydraulic connections, whereby the workingcylinder 29 has a special control system through which the position ofthe piston rod 32 and of the piston 33, respectively their fixation isreached. In the control line 34 a pressure reservoir 35 is providedwhich acts as a compensator and absorbs the shocks in the hydraulicsystem, shocks which unavoidably occur when the disk cams 41pressagainst the hammer rods 2, 3. This way, rigidly mounted cam disks5, 6 can be used, their manufacturing and mounting being considerablysimpler and cheaper than the previous constructions. Also, in this caseheavier power-hammer rods can be used, if needed, and thereby higheramounts of energy can be applied to the coal cake in the amount ofcompression time.

The working cylinder 29 is shaped and connected in such a manner thateven in the desired rest position a shifting due to an outside force, asfor instance the hobbing force of the cam disks is not possible. Evenduring extended rest periods, the working cylinder 29 which is underload will not creep, as the oil shock absorber on the piston side aswell as on the rod side can be leakproofed by the check valve/releasablehydraulic relief valve 36, 37. A double-stage pressure switch 38 whichcan be set for a minimal and maximal initial pressure of the cam disks5, 6 is stimulated via time relay 39. Such is the case when after apretermined time span, as for instance 2 minutes the minimal value isnot reached. The maximal value of the prestress of the cam disks isreached when the working cylinder 29 extends so far that the maximalpressure preset in the double-stage switch 38 applies. This adjustmentof the cam disks 5, 6 takes place when the positioning contact 40 isjuxtaposed to the disk cam 41. This adjustment is required according tothe invention every one to two months.

The pressure reservoir 46 which is provided in the conduit 43 connectedto the storage tank 44 and located behind the relief valve 45 functionsas a pressure buffer.

I claim:
 1. A coke compactor comprising:a plurality of power hammersadapted to be raised and dropped to compact coke, each of said hammersbeing provided with an upstanding rod having a web; a respectiveactuator for each of said hammers, each of said actuators comprising:apair of cams flanking a web of a respective rod of the respective hammerand bearing against said web, said cams being formed along theirperiphery with surfaces frictionally entraining the respective webupwardly and surfaces which release the respective web to permit therespective hammer to drop, respective levers flanking the respective rodrotably carrying said cams, said levers being formed with mutuallymeshing gear segments whereby the displacement of one lever about afulcrum constituting an axis of one gear segment causes the other leverto swing oppositely and synchronously for controlled application of saidcams against the respective web, a respective fluid-operated cylinderoperatively connected to one of said levers for controlling the forcewith which said cams are applied against the respective web, andrespective pinions operatively connected to said cams; and a commondrive for all of said actuators, said drive including a gear trainmeshing with said pinions.
 2. The coke compactor defined in claim 1,further comprising a hydraulic circuit supporting said cylinder andincluding a relief valve and a control valve.
 3. A coke compactorcomprising:a plurality of power hammers adapted to be raised and droppedto compact coke, each of said hammers being provided with an upstandingrod having a web; a respective actuator for each of said hammers, eachof said actuators comprising:a pair of cams flanking a web of arespective rod of the respective hammer and bearing against said web,said cams being formed along their periphery with surfaces frictionallyentraining the respective web upwardly and surfaces which release therespective web to permit the respective hammer to drop, respectivelevers flanking the respective rod rotatably carrying said cams, saidlevers being formed with mutually meshing gear segments whereby thedisplacement of one lever about a fulcrum constituting an axis of onegear segment causes the other lever to swing oppositely andsynchronously for controlled application of said cams against therespective web, a respective fluid-operated cylinder operativelyconnected to one of said levers for controlling the force with whichsaid cams are applied against the respective web, and respective pinionsoperatively connected to said cams; a common drive for all of saidactuators, said drive including a gear train meshing with said pinions;a hydraulic circuit supporting said cylinder and including a reliefvalve and a control valve; and a pressure accumulator disposed upstreamof said relief valve.
 4. The coke compactor defined in claim 3, furthercomprising a 2-stage pressure switch respective to a delay in a pressurebuildup in said circuit and to excess pressure development therein. 5.The coke compactor defined in claim 4, further comprising a pressurereservoir between said valve and said cylinder.
 6. The coke compactordefined in claim 1 wherein each of said gear trains includes adistributor gear meshing with the respective pinion and rotatable aboutan axis coinciding with the respective fulcrum.
 7. The coke compactordefined in claim 1, further comprising coil springs braced between saidlevers for eliminating backlash in said gear segments.